It's Gonna Be A Long Night
by Snowflakesandangels
Summary: Jack and Stoick meet at the hospital after Hiccup is in a car accident. They talk for a while but don't realize who the other is. Warnings: Mild language, mentions of injuries, mentions of arguments.


A giant of a man with fiery red hair rushed to the reception desk of Burgess Hospital, and the girl behind the desk smiled calmly at him as he panicked.

"Where's my son?!"

"What is his name, sir?"

"Hikke Haddock. I'm his father, Stoick, I just got a call saying he'd been in an accident of some sort and brought here."

"Haddock... Oh, yes, he was taken into intensive care about twenty minutes ago. There were some injuries, but his condition appeared to be stable. I'm afraid you won't be able to see him for at least a few hours Mr. Haddock. If you want to wait you're more than welcome to use that room over there and someone will come get you if his condition changes."

The man nodded unhappily and made his way to the small meditation room. Seeing someone was already there, he quietly sat down on the opposite side of the room, leaned back, and wearily closed his eyes. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl and according to the clock, only six minutes had passed since he had first come in. A quiet sighing-sniffing sound met his ears and he took another look at his room companion. The other man sat bent with his white haired head in his hands and appeared to be praying fervently under his breath. Stoick felt sorry for the old man, he really did seem to be suffering,

"Are ye alright? I don't mean to bother ye, but ye seem ready to drop. Would ye like some water?"

The man shook his head slowly and Stoick was surprised to hear a very young, very shaky voice answer, "No thanks, I'm ok."

The white head raised and a young man in his mid-twenties met Stoick's concerned gaze with a pained one of icy blue. "Sometimes shit happens and there's nothing you can do about it."

The older man nodded, "I know what ye mean. I lost my wife many years ago, and today I almost lost my son. He's in there now and I didn't even get to see him."

"My boyfriend's car ran off the road and hit a tree. I know it was my fault too, I should have put the snow tires on last week before that stupid road iced up!"

"I'm sorry; I hope he'll be alright. Do ye mind talking? It seems to make the clock go a little faster."

"No, it's ok. So what's your son like?" "Stubborn, boar-headed, can't keep still. His mother never could either; they're a lot alike really, so hopeful and full of life. What's yer boyfriend like?"

"He's infuriatingly stubborn but loyal to a fault, sarcastic but insanely funny, equal parts fiercely protective and heart breakingly vulnerable, and he has the most amazing bounce-back attitude I've ever seen."

"Hah! He sounds like my son; he's not one to let life get him down either! I haven't seen him in a while though, we had a bit of an argument before he moved out a few years ago and haven't talked much since. I'm surprised I was still in his emergency contacts."

"I'm sure he still loves you, people just need space sometimes. Maybe you can work it out?"

"I hope so. I said things from my own stubbornness that were wrong, but I've learned a lot in the past few years and I just hope I get the chance to tell him. Erm, if ye don't mind me asking, what do yer parents think about ye being together? I mean, are they supportive?"

"Oh, well, um, my family is perfectly fine with everything, they're very accepting anyway so there were never really any issues. My boyfriend's family doesn't know yet, and he's not really sure if he wants to tell them. Why did you want to know exactly?"

Stoick looked down at his prayerfully folded hands, "The fight when my son left was when he told me he was gay. I reacted badly and he was so hurt and angry. It took all his courage to tell me and all I did was shout at him."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Getting a lecture from my best friend of forty years that loving who you love doesn't make a person any different than they were before they told you. That, and him informing me that he's gay as well."

The white haired male snickered, "That would do it. I just realized I never introduced myself. I'm Jack."

A large hand enveloped the much smaller one, "Stoick. Well that killed about ten minutes. I think I need some coffee, you want a cup?"

Jack stood and followed him to the door, "Yeah, it's gonna be a long night."

The hospital cafeteria was painted in rather medicinal shades of pale grey, mint green, and white. _Not really inviting colors for people in various stages of shock._ Jack wrinkled his nose, "Ugh, I hate this hospital. You know these are the same paint colors they had ten years ago? It would look way better if they painted it blue."

"Hmm, I didn't know, I don't live around here actually. What happened ten years ago?"

"My sister and I were skating on the pond and the ice broke. I managed to save her but fell in myself, so I ended up in here for a couple of weeks to recover."

"A few weeks?! Falling through ice usually doesn't take that long, how serious was it?"

Jack shrugged, "Eh, I guess I was in the water long enough to flat line. But I got better, so what's the point in worrying about it, ya know? I'm just glad it was me and not my sister."

"That's very brave." Jack shrugged again and studied the menu board. "The food hasn't improved much either, I think I'll get a sandwich and some coffee."

After seating themselves at a small table the two men fell to talking again. "Yer right about the food, this coffee's terrible. Now my Val could make the best pot of coffee this side of Valhalla. Oh it was perfect, so smooth and never bitter. Mmmmm..."

"Hiccup makes coffee like that; he's actually a really good cook, which is great since the only thing I can make is toast."

"Hiccup?"

"Oh, nickname. The first time we met he was trying to cure a really bad case of hiccups, and he was holding his breath so hard I thought he was going to pass out. I gave him some water and the look on his face was like I'd just handed him the water of life. He was so cute that I asked if he wanted to get a coffee, and we've been best friends ever since. He also has a foreign name that I can't pronounce without him having a laughing fit."

"Where's he from?"

"Berk. Couple towns north of here."

"Ah. Yeah there are a lot of odd names there; the old belief was that a terrible name would keep away trolls."

Jack smiled and yawned, "So I, ahhhh... heard. Damn, must have gotten decaf by mistake. Better get back to the other room in case something happens."

After settling into his former chair, long legs stretched out in front, arms crossed over his chest, Jack lost the valiant struggle to remain awake and began snoring softly. Stoick chuckled and smiled to himself, _I hope Hikke found someone like that..._

"Mr. Overland?" Jack's head shot up roughly as the nurse lightly shook his shoulder. "What's going on? Is he awake?!" "He's just coming off the anesthetic now, but he keeps calling for you so I think you'd better go to him." Stoick caught Jack's arm before he dashed out the door, "Good luck and gods bless ye both." Jack gave him a quick smile, "Thanks. You too."

Hiccup was groggily mumbling something that sounded like "I could've sworn you had teeth..." when Jack rushed into the room and to the side of the bed. The sight of Hiccup's skinny body covered in tubes and wires was almost too much for Jack and he began crying again.

"Hiccup? C-can you hear me?"

"Jack? I think the car's dead. You'd better give it a funeral."

Jack laughed and wiped his eyes, "At least it's not you! I was so worried you wouldn't make it."

"Hey don't worry about me, I'm a Viking, I can take on a little ice. I hope you won't freak too much, Jack, but... they kind of took my leg."

Jack's head whipped around to look and he almost broke down completely. "No, no, nonononoonono! This is all my fault! If I had just changed your snow tires, this wouldn't have happened!"

Suddenly painfully coherent, Hiccup tried to sit up but couldn't move from the network of wires crossing his body. "Jack, look at me. Jack, Jack! Calm down. I'm ok. It's just a hiccup, right? Just a challenge to rise above, right? Right?"

Jack struggled to regain his breath, "B-but Hic-"

Hiccup managed to get hold of Jack's face between his hands and looked into his eyes, "No buts! It's just a stupid leg, you didn't lose me and I didn't lose you! That's what matters to me. You never know how long you have to be with the ones you love."

Jack nodded silently and leaned in to kiss him, "You're right."

A few minutes later Jack had his chair pulled as close to Hiccup's bed as possible and sat holding his hand and telling jokes to help take his mind off the pain the "Viking" stubbornly refused take a sedative for. A nurse came in to check Hiccup's current condition, and lightly flicked the sedative IV, wondering why it hadn't gone down yet. "Do you feel up to a little more company? Your father is here to see you."

Hiccup jumped and instantly regretted it as a searing pain shot up his leg. He gritted his teeth and hissed. "Shite! I forgot he was still in my emergency contacts. I guess now's as good a time as any. Tell him to come in." Jack squeezed his hand and gave him an encouraging smile, "Hey, I'm sure it'll all work out."

Stoick thanked the nurse, and after taking a deep breath, opened the door. Jack's eyes widened and a huge grin spread across his face.

"Stoick! I haven't seen you in, what, a whole twenty minutes?"

"Hello Jack! It's good to see ye again. I take it this is your boyfriend?"

"And I take it he's your son?"

They both turned wide smiles on Hiccup who just sat looking completely lost.

"Huh?"

 **AN:** **If you liked this and want to read more, there is an extended version of this story over on Snowflakesandangels.**

 **The new story title is: I love you still the same.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


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